Not here for help but for discussion… My cats really like eating my calatheas, but only those ! I have Hoyas, a Photos, a peperomia and quite a lot of orchids but they’re not interested in eating them, just the Calatheas !
Does it happens with your cats too ? It drives me crazy, I was looking for a White Fusion for a looong time since they’re not common where I am so the one I got was quite expensive, but they ate it despite my protests 😩
Any solution ?
(My White Fusion is still thriving tho, I was afraid because I heard that they were quite picky, but she’s growing a new leaf 😭)
by GoldenChunkyCat
20 Comments
My stromanthe looks the same lol. I have lots of calatheas and marantas but for some reason my nibbler only likes the triostar and the fusion!
My only solution is hanging them up to where she can’t reach them. It also helps to tire her out with her toys before bed so she isn’t tempted in the night.
I will say too they’re all very resilient to pruning.
Do you grow cat grass? They have an instinct to chew on grass+foliage so maybe growing a good cat plant specifically for cats to chew on will redirect their nibbling energy from your calatheas?
Is cat ok?
A plant hates to see my cat coming. She will eat any plant of my mine that’s thriving. She ate an entire shamrock plant in one sitting one time 🤦♀️
Bitter apple spray?
Keep the plants away from your cats. Either in a hanging basket from a ceiling-mounted hook, or keep them in a room behind a closed door so cats can’t have access.
Calatheas aren’t toxic to cats, but they aren’t going to stop eating them if they continue to be accessible.
I had a calathea and my 6mo old kitten would play and bite it all the time. I even got a cat grass in a small pot and even his own spider plant 😂 but for some reason he prefers to play and bite all my other plants
My cats go nuts for spider plants. You can try getting one of those for them to nibble on and see if they’ll leave your prayer plants alone. You could also try a catnip plant. Spider plants aren’t toxic to cats, but they are believed to have a slight hallucinogenic effect which I think is why they like them so much.
I found the best way for my cats to leave my plants the fuck alone. Is when they weren’t able to reach them anymore, I got a metal shelf in my kitchen put 6 grow lights on it. Boom now im starting seedlings!
I feel your pain
Thank goodness they like the non toxic ones but that’s heart breaking that they ruin your gorgeous plants. Id be putting them on slme sort of shelving where it’s out of reach. I have two cats and luckily they stay away from my plants unless its dry and crispy which I don’t let my plants get this way.
Mine do it too. I just let them go and move the ones out of reach that I really don’t want them chomping on. It’s the cat tax.
Same. They both chew the leaves, but my boy also loves to chomp the stems. I now keep my calatheas out of reach. The hoyas are ignored, but they’d totally chew the oncidium leaves if the orchids were not also out of reach.
I had this issue and put orange peels on the soil for awhile because cats don’t like oranges.
She got better about not eating my plants after that, but she still tries it every now and then when she wants attention.
Like other people said though— grow some cat grass to satisfy her leafy cravings. It’s incredible easy to grow and sprouts up FAST. I just put the seeds in soil, put it near a window with lots of light, keep the soil damp, and wait. A week or so later you’ll have 4 plus inches of cat grass that’s ready to eat.
Yup. Mine has similar holes in the leaves 😢
I have mice eating mine, can I borrow your cat?
My birds eat mine too I’ve had to keep them far away lmao
Assuming you don’t mind the smell, I used a little bit of apple cider vinegar on a paper towel to gently clean the leaves and also wipe it on the edge of the plant pot. It took a bit of work to get my cat to stop approaching my plant – after the initial application, if my cat ever approached the plant to chew the leaves, I would firmly say “no” then reapply the ACV onto the rim of the pot.
One of my cats can’t resist anything that has long, thin frond-like leaves. She devours cat grass, and I had to get a little tent for my parlor palm. She leaves everything else alone though, even my hoyas with long stringy vines.
The other cat loves looking at my plants, smelling them, brushing up against them, or peeking from behind the leaves. She’s not too interested in eating any of them, even the cat grass. 🤷♀️
Ha! I thought the first pic is my plant 😂 i chopped off like half off it because it looks so bad.